Page 86 - Biblical Counseling II

Emotion: A Mind-Body Experience

Connect…

Imagine this experiment is designed to measure the body’s response to different emotions. “In each of
[three] rooms, you have someone watching a movie. In the first, the person is viewing a horror movie. In the
second, the viewer watches an anger-provoking film. [In the third,] the person is viewing an utterly boring
movie. From the control center, you are tracking each person’s physical responses, measuring perspiration,
breathing, and heart rate. Do you think you could tell who is frightened? Who is angry? Who is bored?”
(Myers, p. 255, 2012). Bored would probably be the easiest to recognize. What about the bodily differences
between fear and anger? Many emotions do not have significantly different biological responses. Let’s read
more about emotion.

The Lesson ...

Emotion

“Whether you are falling in love or grieving a loved one’s death, you need little convincing that emotions
involve the body. Feeling without a body is like breathing without lungs. Some physical responses are easy to
notice; others happen without your awareness. Indeed, many take place at the level of your brain’s neurons”
(Myers, p. 254, 2012).

Imagine a father is in a store with his young son. He turns to look at an item on a shelf, looks down at where
his son was, and his son is gone. Think of how emotions, thoughts, and physical responses would all seem to
happen at once:

Emotions are a mix of 1) physiological arousal (heart pounding), 2) expressive behaviors (quickened pace), 3)
consciously experienced thoughts (“Did someone kidnap my son?”), and 4) feelings (a sense of fear, and
later joy when the boy is found.) The puzzle for psychologists has been figuring out how these three pieces
fit together.

Researchers on emotions have debated three questions:

1. Does physiological arousal always precede emotional experience?
2. Are different emotions marked by distinct physiological responses?
3. What is the connection between what we think and how we feel?

What is the link between emotional arousal and the autonomic nervous system (ANS)?
In a crisis, it is your autonomic nervous system (ANS) that mobilizes your body for action and calms it when
the crisis passes. Without any conscious effort, your body’s response to danger is wonderfully coordinated
and adaptive – preparing you to fight or flee (Myers, 2009). Imagine you are walking down a quiet city street
at dusk. You hear the sound of a car slowing down behind you and notice no one else is around. Alarmed at
the car behind you, your muscles tense, your stomach feels uneasy, your mouth becomes dry, and your heart
races. “To provide energy, your liver pours extra sugar into your bloodstream. To help burn the sugar, your
breathing increases to supply needed oxygen. Your digestion slows, allowing blood to move away from your
internal organs and toward your muscles. You start to run. With blood sugar driven into the large muscles,

84